Helen Mirren is one of the best actresses of her generation. It doesn’t take much to win the hearts and minds of the public, and there’s no doubt about that now that it’s her turn to become Queen Elizabeth II. Queen (2006) that she has the grace and dignity to play a leader.
While she is not Jewish, which is a source of consternation for some, it at least makes sense to call Mirren Golda Meir, Israel’s only female prime minister. Unfortunately, that’s the only thing that stands out about this flat historical retelling.
Guy Nattiv’s film uses the familiar structure of partial flashbacks as the elderly, terminally ill Meir reflects on her political and national reputation. Much of the action is set against the backdrop of growing political unrest during the Yom Kippur War of 1973, a controversial and ultimately defining nineteenth day in Israeli history.
Meir and her divided cabinet must decide how to mitigate a surprise attack on their territory by the Arab coalition, sparking a tense conflict that will ultimately lead to victory against the world’s superpowers, namely the United States and the Soviet Union, on both sides.
Meir faced enormous backlash over her decisions. She had to testify in a national court to defend her decision not to take immediate action based on apparent Mossad intelligence information about an impending military attack, but Nattiv’s film treats political intrigue with the gusto of a cat playing a dead man. Mouse. There’s something dry and boring about all this domestic politics, even with the occasional heartfelt speech or the obligatory break in the local shootout.
Mirren, wearing latex prosthetics to look more like Meir (which is close to ethnic mimicry), struggles to bring to life the endless high-profile scenes of military and foreign policy maneuvers. She is supported by Liev Schreiber’s lively but all-too-brief speech as US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
But this material offers little insight or even pedagogical flair for depicting this pivotal moment in Arab-Israeli relations. Even a talent like Mirren is stunned by this mediocrity.
Source: I News
I am Mario Pickle and I work in the news website industry as an author. I have been with 24 News Reporters for over 3 years, where I specialize in entertainment-related topics such as books, films, and other media. My background is in film studies and journalism, giving me the knowledge to write engaging pieces that appeal to a wide variety of readers.